Kristallnacht: The night of broken glass

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In November 1938, the Nazis organised a night of terror against Jews in Germany. Windows of homes, businesses and synagogues were broken.

Kurt Salomon Maier was eight years old, living with his Jewish family in Kippenheim, Germany. He survived what became known as Kristallnacht or ‘the night of broken glass’ and escaped to the United States. Kurt Salomon Maier, now 94-years-old, speaks to James Jackson.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: Windows with broken glass after Kristallnacht. Credit: Bettmann/Corbis/Bettmann Archive)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to tell you why I love
0:03.7	podcasting I'm Natasha Aronson I'm an assistant commissioner for the BBC and I work on
0:09.4	making podcasts my real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest
0:16.9	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.0	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit.
0:26.0	There's nothing like it.
0:28.0	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you.
0:31.0	So whatever we commission has to reflect the things that you care about
0:34.4	and love wherever you are in the UK. So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to
0:39.5	discover. Have a listen on BBC sounds. Welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me James Jackson.
0:54.0	In this edition the story of Kristalnacht in 1938
0:58.0	where Nazis and their supporters attack the Jewish community in Nazi-Ruhl Germany breaking the windows of Jewish homes and synagogues.
1:07.0	It's November 9th, 1938. The National Socialists have been stoking hatred and discrimination against Jews for years.
1:16.0	But this night sees the first outbreak of mass violence against Jews.
1:21.0	Kristalnacht, the night of broken glass.
1:24.4	I remember that very well.
1:26.5	We were in school, my brother and I,
1:29.8	and we were told to go home. Program program had already started and we went home and I was with my
1:37.7	mother and suddenly we heard stones crash through the window.
1:42.3	Kurt Salomon Meyer was born in 1930 and grew up in the town of Kippenheim outside the Black Forest with his family.
1:50.0	In his small town, his parents had tried to shelter him from anti-Semitism, hatred of Jews.
1:56.0	I had heard things before, but I didn't put them together. I was five, six years old and my parents protected me and did not want me to experience any suffering.
	...

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